Reducing flooding in East Dean, West Sussex
We’ve recently started a major project in East Dean, West Sussex to protect homes and businesses from flooding.
Work to seal sewers
The winter just gone has been one of the wettest on record, and residents of East Dean have experienced frequent flooding because of high groundwater levels.
Just North of Chichester, the village has very chalky ground, which acts as a sponge for all the extra rain we’ve had this year. The ground can only absorb so much rain and once it’s done so, the extra water starts to squeeze its way into our network through cracks in the pipes. This is known as groundwater infiltration and too much of it can quickly overwhelm the system.
To prevent groundwater infiltration, we’ve started work in the area to seal sewers, helping to keep this extra water out. We’ll be using tried and tested methods such as sewer relining and patching to future-proof our network. The million-pound project aims to reduce the risk of flooding and the use of storm overflows, by stopping groundwater from entering our sewer network.
Head of Wastewater networks, Alex Saunders, said:
“Some of the past groundwater levels in this area in the last two years have been some of the highest we have ever seen and pose a real challenge to tackle. We know this is a problem for East Dean and villages in this area and we hope by extensively relining sewers in this area we can protect homes from flooding.”
Find out more about groundwater levels and how they impact our network.